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By C. B. Alcock

The control of high temperature processes requires the ability to measure significant variables during operations. With increasing automatic computerized control there is need for sensors which can provide on-line chemical analyses of all phases present in a reactor without the necessity to withdraw samples from the high temperature reaction zone. Probes using electrochemical cells and conductivity measuring devices have provided the answers to some of these problems, notably the measurement of oxygen in liquid metals, and similar potential systems based on the same fundamental principles for the analysis of non-metallic and metallic elements appear feasible. In this discussion, the state-of-the-art in chemical sensors will be discussed in terms of the potential materials of construction, and, in some cases, the limitations of upper temperature at which some promising systems can, at present, be applied. It is concluded that a new phase of basic research could improve the outlook substantially by providing solutions for some problems in chemical sensors which are now well-defined.

Jan 1, 1990

By Nes?e Çelebi

It has never been easy to finance within mining sector. Leasing may be an alternative source of finance for mining investments. Leasing is acquiring the right of usage for an asset for a definite period of time without having the ownership of it. In this study, a model for analyzing the lease financing opportunities for mining investments under risk and suitable for establishing a satisfactory leasing policy for both lessee and lessor is developed. Using the model, it is possible to obtain an expected equilibrium lease amount acceptable by both lessor and lessee and also the expected range of the equilibrium lease amount as a decision tool. First the existing leasing policies are mentioned, then the developed model is described. A case study is presented to illustrate the use of the model in establishing a leasing policy. In conclusion, the usefulness of the model is discussed.

Jan 1, 1992

By MYRIAM FRANCOEUR, JOHN R.R. BOWLING, ADAM MCFADDEN

As duct-fan systems push the envelope of power, length and cost, their design calls for a more comprehensive technoeconomic analysis to ensure they deliver the expected results without failure and cost overrun. This work explores the numerous factors to include in the design of an extensive (semi-)rigid duct-fan system. Besides delivering a given airflow, the system must satisfy component limitations and power constraints during its lifetime. We evaluate the assumptions underlying the positioning of in-line booster fans in a long gapless duct-fan system and propose a strategy for specifying the location and blade pitch of successive booster fans to prevent system failure due to a partial vacuum.

Oct 1, 2022

In conjunction with steady increases in production levels, long-wall operators have applied greater quantities of ventilating air to control respirable dust and methane gas. As a result, air velocities greater than 7.6 m/s (1500 fpm) have been measured on longwall faces. Operators have expressed concern over the potential entrainment of respirable dust at these high-velocities, especially during shield advance as dust falls from the shield canopy directly into theair stream. Laboratory tests to simulate dust liberation by shield movement were conducted at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory of NIOSH in a wind tunnel designed to study dust entrainment in high-velocity airstreams. Dust was introduced into the tunnel to determine dust concentration as it relates to entrainment, dilution, air velocity, and particle adhesion. Airborne dust samples were obtained by iso-kinetic sampling using BGI cyclones to quantify respirable dust concentration at the various air velocities. Laboratory tests were con-ducted at velocities ranging from 2.0 to 10.1 m/s (400 to 2000 fpm),and significant differences in airborne respirable dust levels were measured. This research is being conducted to provide fundamental information on the entrainment characteristics of respirable dust at high air velocities, which will subsequently lead to solutions for shield dust control. A discussion of the test procedures and results are presented.

Jan 1, 2004

By Vaughn Astley, Hassan El-Shall, Ponisseril Somasundaran, Regis Stana, Patrick Zhang

In the past, when phosphate rock quality was good, few paid attention to any of the impurities or other qualities associated with phosphate rock. In general, they had little or no effect on the ability to make the phosphate products for the market. However, as phosphate rock quality declined, it was apparent to the rock consumers that the individual impurities had a significant impact on their processes. FIPR is presently funding an analysis of operating plant data to determine the range of the effects of rock impurities on production plant performance. The study will not be completed until 2002. IMC has agreed to share some of the information they had developed in the early 1990s.

Jan 1, 2002

By J. B. Pautler, A. E. Gross, M. G. Strominger

The U.S. Bureau of Mines research on the use of cement as an agglomeration aid allowed precious metals heap leaching to become an economically viable method of precious metal recovery during the 1980's. However, many agglomerated ore bodies still exhibited poor heap/agglomerate strength. Precious metal recovery was often too slow or required prohibitively high levels of cement to be economically sound. Problems with heap ponding, blinding, and solution channeling and "wash-out" indicated that there was a need within the industry to improve on existing agglomeration technology. An in-depth research effort was undertaken to satisfy this need. Three years of research led to a patent on the use of vinyl addition polymers as effective agglomeration aids. A close working relationship between Brewer Gold and Nalco Chemical Company aided in the development of this program. This paper details the pilot test work, the full-scale evaluation at Brewer Gold Company, and conclusions.

Jan 1, 1990

By Ginger L. Hustrulid

Conveyor belts are a critical component in tunneling projects. This paper reviews current design considerations for conveyor belts. Rubber compounding differences to meet local fire resistance regulations or certain cover characteristics such as higher abrasion resistance or low carbon footprint rubbers for applications are reviewed. Evaluation of fabric belts, steel cable belts and the benefits of each carcass design for a particular use is also examined to help with proper carcass selection to decrease downtime from unexpected failures. Finally, this paper takes a look at some of the differences when working in metric versus imperial units.

Dec 1, 2022

By George Aul, Richard Ray

Short-hole horizontal degasification systems have been utilized in Island Creek's Virginia Division mines since 1986. These systems remove methane from the coal seam in advance of longwall mining. Without an in-seam methane drainage program, methane liberation rates from the longwall faces may exceed 0.47 cu m/s (1,000 cfrn), requiring 47 cu m/s (100,000 cfm) of air for adequate dilution capability. Optimization of the degas systems has enabled methane liberation levels and the associated ventilation requirements on the longwall faces to be reduced by 50 to 80 percent. Since the inception of the first degas system at the Virginia Pocahontas No. 6 Mine, Island Creek has developed an overall methane drainage program designed to maximize gas production and minimize ventilation requirements for methane dilution. Gas production from the degas systems is affected by four main design criteria: (1) hole location, (2) hole length and spacing, (3) collection system capacity, and (4) time available for drainage. Drilling equipment and materials for the gas collection system are selected to meet the necessary criteria while minimizing manpower requirements. Benefits gained from reducing methane liberation rates from the longwall faces are fourfold: (1) improved safety due to lower methane concentrations in the face area, (2) fewer production delays caused by excessive methane concentrations, (3) lower fan operating costs resulting from reduced air requirements, and (4) enhanced worker comfort resulting from lower air velocities and less dust generation.

Jan 1, 1991

One of the most challenging and ambitious dump rehabilitation projects in South Africa’s mining industry is being carried out at Greenside Colliery’s smoldering coal dump, which lies adjacent to the N 12 Johannesburg-Witbank highway. Greenside Colliery is the largest coal mine in the Gold Fields Group. It began operation in 1946, the year in which the burning dump had its origins. Today, Gold Fields plans to spend R16 million (about $USS8 million) to encapsulate the dump, bringing it into compliance with South Africa’s Mining Environmental Management Programme, according to Martin Hamer, engineering manager of the Greenside Colliery. The improved environmental management approach will result in reduced sulfur dioxide gas, smoke and dust emisson into the air and an enhanced aesthetic appearance of the dump from the N 12 highway. The objectives of the project are to place and compact coal discard to within the National Institute of Coal Research specifications in order to prevent spontaneous combustion, and to preserve as an asset the coal portion of the discard.

Jan 1, 1994

By T. T. Gronfors

The excavation process and equipment used for excavation join firmly each other. By changing the process or method, the construction of equipment may be altered essentially. It has been possible to develop a wholy new type of hydraulic boom for tunnelling, when only parallel drilling instead of V-cut is used. The utilization of controlled blasting has made small holes more desirable. So the controlled blasting has had an influence on the selection of drill steel equipment and in this way also influenced the construction of the equipment.

Jan 1, 1970

By John P. Weir

The coal industry is ever changing and complex. This article discusses some problems that must be faced and their projected economic effects. Coal's dominant market is for electric power generation. While growth rates in the 1980s will be nominal compared to historic growth rates, such growth will be substantial in absolute terms because it comes from a very large base. Higher growth is expected in the 1990s. History When looking toward the future, an examination of the past is helpful. Figures 1 and 2 present production and consumption statistics (expressed in short tons) on bituminous coal and lignite in the US from 1945 onward. After an all-time peak of 572 Mt (631 million st) in 1947, total production dropped to 356 Mt (392 million st) in 1954. Sustained growth in total production did not begin until the 1960s. Coal production from under-ground mines declined from more than 400 Mt (440 million st) in 1947 to about 295 Mt (325 million st) during 1965 to 1970. A further decline ensued until a strike in 1978 reduced production to only 218 Mt (240 million st). Underground mines produced 283 Mt (312 million st) in 1983. Coal production from surface mines has increased steadily since the early 1960s. While some of this increase has come from mines east of the Mississippi River, most has resulted from surface mines developed in the West. Production from surface mines west of the Mississippi River was 224 Mt (247 million st) in 1982. Total coal production from under-ground and surface mines, other than Western surface mines, continues to approximate levels of 40 years ago. In spite of several wage increases, increasing productivity in surface and underground mines enabled the coal industry to hold the average value f.o.b. mine to about $5.50/t ($5 per st) from the end of World War II to 1969. Under-ground mine productivity peaked at more than 13.5 t (15 st) per man-day in 1969. The Coal Mine Health and Safety Act of 1969 was a major factor in underground productivity declining to 7.6 t (8.4 st) per man-day in 1978. However, pro-

Jan 7, 1984

By A. A. El-Midany, R. M. Farag, A. M. Salem, S. E. El-Mofty

Bentonite represents one of the main players in the stability of the drilling mud. Its particle size and particle size distribution affect the physical properties of the drilling mud especially the rheological properties. Therefore, a specific particle size distribution was recommended by American Petroleum Institute (API) for use in drilling mud. To clarify the effect of individual size and size distribution, in this study, the bentonite sample was classified into different size fractions. Each size fraction was tested separately in terms of controlling properties such as filtration loss, plastic viscosity, gel strength, cake thickness, and packing density. The effect of each size fraction on the rheological properties of the suspension was correlated to the behavior of the whole particle size distribution in the bentonite sample. The results indicate that the coarser the particles, the higher the rheological properties; in this case, the API mixture is the highest. The filtration loss and cake thickness for the API mixture are lower than that of the individual size fractions due to its wider size distribution due to the filling of voids between larger particles with smaller ones, which lead to bed compaction and consequently lower fluid loss and cake thickness.

By L. J. O’Connor

Mining activities in the small historic mining camp of La Colorada in the state of Sonora, Mexico can be traced back to the mid eighteenth century when gold was discovered and exploited by Jesuit missionaries. Following one hundred and twenty six years of activity, the mines were shut down due to the Mexican revolution. Very little activity took place until 1989 when a company, Minera Las Cuevas, spent US $350,000.00 in mapping and sampling and diamond and reverse circulation drilling over a period of three years. During 1991 HRC Development Corporation entered into a joint venture agreement with Minerales de Sotula, S.A. de C.V. that allowed an earn in of 70% interest. Exploraciones Eldorado, S.A. de C.V. and it's parent company, Eldorado Corporation Ltd. were subsequently incorporated by HRC to hold the La Colorada project. Property evaluation ensued and a thirty thousand tonne Run of Mine test heap was leached from August of 1992 until May of 1993. Full scale commercial production commenced in late November, 1993 and the first gold/silver doré bar was poured early in January of 1994. Pre-production costs were a total of approximately four million dollars U.S. During the fall of 1994 a buyout of the venture partners' interest gave Eldorado one hundred percent ownership of the property. The first two years of mining have utilized a local contract mining fleet and have placed nearly two million tonnes of ore on a run of mine heap. Low cost ripping and dozing mining methods have been employed in conjunction with drip irrigation leaching. An initial pilot plant carbon adsorption circuit was supplemented with a Merrill Crowe recovery circuit in June of 1994 and was completely replaced with the construction of a second Merrill Crowe circuit in July of 1995. Approximately fifty thousand troy ounces of gold and over one hundred thirty thousand ounces of silver will have been poured by year end 1995. Ongoing, on site exploration continues to increase mineable reserves in the known deposits. A feasibility study is ongoing concurrent with the operations and will provide the basis for future elevated production levels. Exploraciones Eldorado continues to explore outward from the current operations and several anomalous outlying zones may play part to the long term economic growth of the company in Mexico.

Jan 1, 1996

By Charles L. Kimbell

In 1989, worldwide total mineral industry activity registered advances from 1988. The advances may not have been as noteworthy as in 1988, but they can be regarded as a worthy theme for this article. The momentous political events throughout the centrally planned economy world had only a modest impact on actual 1989 industry performance. But these events have such potential for worldwide changes in economic activity in future years that they dwarf the actual happenings of 1989 in the minerals industry. Perhaps most significant factor here is the rapidity with which these changes have occurred. The end of World War II saw the almost immediate division of the world into major economic blocs. Since then, mineral industry activities and other industrial operations have been governed, to a considerable extent, by this partitioning. The developed market economy nations have operated as a group, the centrally planned economy states as another group. And these two groups essentially have vied for recognition in mineral industry operations in the developing economy states of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The boundaries of these country blocs were fixed in the late 1940s and early 1950s. They were not markedly altered in the ensuing 40 years. We have seen the establishment of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the continued Arab-Israeli confrontations in the Near East, the upheavals surrounding the rise of Moslem Fundamentalism in Iran, and the establishment of Soviet-oriented governments in Cuba and Nicaragua. These events have had notable effects on the world economy. But they have done little to change the pattern of market economy states functioning as a competitive bloc with the centrally-planned economy countries.

Jan 1, 1990

By Carolina Bruecker, Axel Preusse

"The topic of ground movements in Germany has been studied extensively in the past, especially in the field of active mines. The active hard coal mines were finally shut down in 2018 in Germany and lignite mining is expected to take place only until 2038. The so-called long-term liabilities of the mine operators in Germany include, among other things, the long-term guarantee of stability and thus the monitoring of ground motion.So far, the economic use of underground mining in Germany was mainly the supply of raw materials. In the future, the underground storage of compressed air, methane, or hydrogen will play an important role in renewable energy supply and climate change. Therefore, underground storage space will become more important and spatial planning is essential to ensure availability of safe underground openings for the various options of environmentally friendly energy storage.However, this renewed usage of underground openings may also bring new and sometimes unknown challenges of geomechanical influence. On the one hand, the aftermath of hard coal and lignite mining will be an increasing challenge in mining subsidence engineering. On the other hand, new possibilities due to underground spatial planning may lead to subsidence and/or heaving of the upper surface.INTRODUCTIONBoth hard coal and lignite have a long tradition in Germany. The Prosper Haniel mine in the Ruhr area was closed at the end of 2018 after 150 years, which signalled the end of hard coal production in Germany. Lignite mining still takes place in the Central German, Lausitz, and Rhineland districts. However, lignite mining in Germany is expected to be phased out gradually by 2038 (MDR, 2019). With the closure of these mines, however, mining damage is not over. The long-term consequences of mining, which extend far beyond the closure of the mines, are associated with the liability and responsibility of the individual mining companies. The so-called eternity burdens on the mining company continue to apply. In the field of lignite production, the discontinuation of dewatering and the resulting possible elevations of the surface will be a relevant topic for the future of mine surveying. The same applies to the hard coal mines, which are partially flooded in Germany and therefore require extensive monitoring of soil movements in the future.The discontinuation of energy from hard coal and lignite calls for a change in the energy mix. With the renewable energy revolution in Germany, the focus is on a sustainable and environmentally compatible climate and energy policy based on renewable energies. Sustainable use of the subsoil, both natural and anthropogenically produced cavities, will play an essential role in the objectives of this policy. For example, disused mine cavities can be used to store electricity from renewable energy sources. (Umwelt Bundesamt, 2018) These functions will again cause classical ground movements such as subsidence and uplift, but will also bring new challenges for the mine surveyor. Challenges can be underground cavity exploration in inaccessible areas or legal aspects of underground competition."

Jan 1, 2019

By S. L. Patil, D. E. Walsh

A novel form of calibration of on-line analyzers was implemented. Rather than simple equations, a neural network was used to model the relationship between the scintillation counts (Am and Cs) of an analyzer, and the measured ash for improved on-line analysis of run-of-mine (r.o.m.) coal. Also, a new approach was followed to better evaluate neural network performance. Samples were first divided into various statistically different groups using a Kohonen network. Data was then selected for the training, calibration and prediction subsets, using criteria developed in this paper for sparse data, with representation from each group. A backpropagation based neural network architecture was used in conjunction with quick stop training. Due to noise in the data, the predictions were very good on average, but not individually.

Jan 1, 2003

By M. Scherbakov, W. Shi

Abrasion is an important mode of performance for any element of an engineered product that involves material contact for example, a conveyor belt cover. Abrasion resistance is considered to be one of the leading factors in belt cover design and improvement. Various types of abrasion testing are reviewed by and compared to actual belt applications. A new quantitative screening torsional abrasion test is developed by Goodyear to mimic a dynamic contact between belt cover and differently shaped stones of various weights dropped onto belt at any angle, velocity and height.

Jan 1, 2004

By S. Rideout

As Assistant Director for Program Support for the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement (OSM), a bureau of the U.S. Department of the Interior, I am responsible for the regulatory and abandoned mine land programs under the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977, which governs the environmental impacts of coal mining. My perspective is influenced by my current position and my previous positions in government and private industry. Sustainability is a cooperative effort of many parties and can only be achieved if each assumes their responsibilities for making it happen. I will highlight some of my thoughts on the role of government in achieving sustainability in the mining arena.

Jan 1, 2007

By D. Loy LeRoy

As we are all aware, the impacts of the 1977 Surface Mining Act and the implementing OSM Regulations require application of new, as well as existing, equipment and technologies. Our firm recently completed (June, 1979) a study for the Department of Energy titled "Analysis of the Impact of Public Law 95-87 on Mining Performance." The objective of the study was to analyze the impact of the Act and its regulations on mining performance in order to provide recommendations to alleviate the impacts identified, including identification of research needs. This paper presents some of the highlights of that report: projected cost increases; additional equipment needed for compliance; review of methods currently practiced or those which can be modified; and will focus particulary on equipment and technology applications.

Jan 1, 1980

By E. Craig Simmons

Uranium is an element incompatible with respect to the major rock-forming minerals crystallizing from granitic magma, entering in- stead trace minerals such as zircon. The relationship between the saturation limit (SL) for such a mineral and the bulk distribution coefficient (Do) for U is central to understanding the distribution of U and its availability to late- stage fluids which can form ore deposits directly, or labile U which can be remobilized later. Low SL values imply early crystallization of zircon, but in very small proportions, minimizing Do and maximizing the degree of enrichment of U in late-stage fluids. Thus, granitic rocks with low Zr contents (due to a low saturation limit for zircon) are most likely to evolve U- enriched differentiates; this will be reflected in a high U content of the zircons (but not necessarily high U abundances in whole-rocks). Thus, the ratio of the U content of zircon to the Zr content of the corresponding whole-rock is potentially a very useful parameter in identifying granitic rocks which are most likely to have U-enriched solutions associated with them. The granitic rocks associated with the U deposits of the Midnite Mine area, Washington, have geochemical characteristics which fit very well the model presented here. The rocks are very low in Zr (100 ppm) and contain zircons with extremely high U contents (3,000-4,000 ppm).

Jan 1, 1981